Ohio State football: The Big Ten will be better than last year

The Ohio State football team easily went through the Big Ten conference and won it without too much resistance because of a surprisingly weak conference. The conference won’t be as weak in 2021.

The Ohio State football program has won four straight Big Ten Championships. That is primarily because Ohio State is just so much better than everyone else. Last year though, it was easier to win the conference than it normally is because the conference was so bad.

Penn State lost their first two games of the season to IU and Ohio State and never recovered. Minnesota got blown out by Michigan to start the year and was never the same. Michigan lost every other game they played except one. Wisconsin had COVID issues that tripped them up.

Besides Ohio State, only Wisconsin and Northwestern seemed to be any good. Iowa went 6-2 as well, so they weren’t bad. But it’s the first time since the conference went to divisions that the West had overall better teams than the East. It was a very strange year.

I expect most of these teams to be much better in 2021. Michigan seems to be getting themselves together (finally), Penn State won’t lose five games again, COVID hopefully won’t be a thing and won’t hurt Wisconsin again, and IU will be building off their successful season and might be the second-best team in the Big Ten.

All of this means that Ohio State’s road to the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff will be harder than it was in 2020. The Buckeyes won’t have a walk in the park. They should still be the best team in the conference, but they will have tougher games to win.

A strong conference also helps the Buckeyes with strength of schedule, which helps with CFP selection and CFP seeding. It’s a win-win for everyone.